Mr C Manning v Mr J Townsend and 1 other — 2023

The tribunal treated Newbottle Estate as a collective term rather than a legal entity and found that the claimants had separate employment contracts with individual respondents. Mrs Manning started on 7 September 2021 and Mr Manning on 31 August 2021. On the evidence of the offer letter, signed contracts, payslips, timesheets and the cottage licence, the tribunal held that Mrs Manning was employed by Ms Behan and Mr Manning by Mr Townsend, and it struck out and dismissed each claimant's claims against the other respondent.

The first claimant's sexual harassment claim was struck out under Rule 37(1)(a) and dismissed. The tribunal held that the alleged conduct on 18 December 2021 involved employees of Smith and Clay Limited, a separate legal entity, so the second respondent could not be liable for third-party harassment. The limitation issue for that allegation did not need to be decided.

The second claimant was found to be disabled within section 6 of the Equality Act 2010 by reason of anxiety. The tribunal accepted a history of anxiety and low mood going back to 2005, found substantial adverse effects on normal day-to-day activities including shopping, looking after his children, going to work, eating, being in public and carrying out household tasks, and held that those effects were long-term from October 2020 to February 2022. It also held that the first respondent ought to have known of the disability from 13 October 2021 after the panic-attack email.

The first claimant was allowed to amend her claim to add direct sex discrimination, which the tribunal treated as a minor relabelling of known facts and left any time-limit issue for the final hearing. The second claimant was also allowed to pursue victimisation on an association basis. The remaining complaints were directed to proceed at a later case management hearing, and no substantive remedy was awarded.